Starlight
by Scepidilionz
Summary: Hanji Zoe drags Levi out on one of her Titan studying expeditions, when things go terribly awry, and they end up discovering things about the world that they didn't know they could. Rated T for language and minour innuendos.
1. Hopelessly Misplaced

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**Thank you for making your way here to my story!**

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**Starlight:**

**Chapter One:  
Hopelessly Misplaced **

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"Levi, let's face it." Hanji broke down, the everlasting smile falling from her lips. She collapsed against the bark of an ancient pine, resting on one of its branches. Only today, its scent wasn't soothing her. "We're out of gas, and our blades are dull. No one will be coming in to save us…" She placed her head in between her knees, "We're doomed, and it's my damn fault."  
Levi was about to argue, but it was her fault, and now they were going to die for it. It was her idea to venture past wall Mari, on a lead she hadn't even fully explained to him yet. They had gone alone, which the more he thought about it, the stupider he felt for allowing it to happen that way.  
"Captain, please call me a moron or something. I can't stand the silence." All she had wanted was to study the titans when they weren't aware of human presence., but something went terribly awry in the middle of the experiment.  
He sat down after making sure there weren't any bugs where he was going to rest, "You may be a failure, however, I don't think you're the one who botched the job and got us into this mess." It didn't make any sense, unless Titans had suddenly developed a strong sense of smell more powerful than a purebred bloodhound, but if that were the case, they should've been found out a lot earlier. "It's only been three days, we might still be able to find our way back, but we need to get water before we collapse." He could tell by the way the squad leader had sat down a moment ago that she was already feeling woozy, they had completely run out of the little water they had that morning.  
"The only problem being that there are titans everywhere and we have no gas."  
_"Only?"_

She sighed, the situation just felt so hopeless, then a thought came to her, "Are you trying to cheer me up?"

She received no reply, and so she assumed that her hunch was correct. He was trying to comfort her in the only way he knew during her last days! How very considerate of him, considering they were both going to die because of her error! "Captain, I really am-"  
"Say it after we get home." He scanned the trees. Something was watching. A titan? No, Hanji would have noticed by now if it were any of her precious text subjects. "Let's start moving, now."  
He was about to climb down when he took note of her pitiful state, there was no way she would be able to keep up with him like that, so with a sigh, he motioned for her to climb onto his back.  
"Levi. I really can-"  
"Do it." They didn't have time to quarrel amongst themselves. Hanji needed rest and water, then they could go about hunting something to support them for their journey home. If they returned home, and at this rate he seriously doubted both of them would make it back unscathed.

Humanity would either lose one of its greatest soldiers, or one of its most brilliant minds.

*************************************************************************************************************************************

It was a bit before they made it to the river. Zoe had already passed out, or at least Levi assumed she passed out, because she stopped her usual jabber. At least she had become cheery again before the end, a smile ever gracing her fast.  
He set her down and filled up their canteens in the river after washing his hands, but now it was only a matter of getting his companion to drink in her inebriated state. With a sigh, he realised the easiest option that he had accessible would be to 'bird feed' her. It was to save her life after all, she would forgive him for the momentarily compromising physical contact necessary for it.

He filled his cheeks up with river water before placing his lips on hers, putting the water into her mouth. As he held this position, he pressed a pressure point on her leg to help her to swallow. He repeated this process a few times. He would have to take care of her like this until she woke up, which shouldn't be long, but if they got into trouble the timing could mean their lives or death.

It was good news that the sun had set. If she woke up before sunrise they could head out and follow the river until they saw something familiar.

After getting himself some water he began to clear a spot for her to rest, but his body began to threaten to let exhaustion overcome him.

'_Levi Ackerman, don't you dare give in. There's only you. Both of you will die if-' _His thoughts were interrupted by a sharp pain that pierced the base of his neck, a needle.  
"Shit…" He muttered as he fell over, his head landing on his comrade's lap.

So they were being tailed after all, but not by titans.

*************************************************************************************************************************************

He didn't know where he was when he woke up. All he knew was that the bright light dangling above his face was going to burn a hole in his retinae, so he forced them shut immediately.

"Good, you're awake." A voice boomed from somewhere in the room, possibly to his left, he didn't know, his ears were ringing for some reason. Though he could tell the voice was female, though her voice was strange, which confused him, maybe his ears were playing tricks on him. He remembered that humanity once had many different voices, but that was long ago, "Who are you, and why are you not in any of our books?"

Levi almost laughed, this chick was seriously messing with him. It was probably someone he knew that was changing their voice to make him think he had gone crazy. Every human left alive knew him, no matter how much he hated it for being called out in the streets at least a dozen times a day. "Captain Levi Ackerman of the Scout Regiment." He forced out, though his throat was dry so it made talking uncomfortable.

"There is no such person."

*************************************************************************************************************************************

"Your friend tells us he's a captain of scouts."

"You have Levi?! Oh thank goodness! I was worried the Titans got him!" She laughed, and her interrogators sighed, the girl had been laughing since she woke up.

"We need to make sure your stories match up before we terminate you on grounds of insanity." The genes of the mentally unstable could damage the future generations to come after all.

"Woah woah woah, I may come off as a crazy, obsessed, Titan fangirl, but I'm a perfectly normal member of the scout regiment, and so is Captain Ackerman, albeit a clean freak." If the place he was was anything like her surroundings, no amount of chains could restrain him and his urges to clean.

"Right." The tall blond rolled her cerulean eyes, "He's in a prison cell with the rats, awaiting you and the executioner."

Hanji suddenly realized how serious the circumstances were. These people weren't playing a joke, they were really intent on killing both of them, and had no idea who they were. Hanji had slipped up once, but she wasn't going to let Levi die for yet another one of her mistakes, "We're real!" She tried to explain, or at least move her hands, but they had strapped her down really well, "I swear!"  
"It doesn't make sense, Hanji, or at least the other one says that's your name. No humans survived other than our own people in this area, and yet, during our exploration, we found you two."  
"Because- Wait, where are we?" She sniffed, tasting the air on the back of her throat, and could immediately tell how stale the air was. "We're underground?" All of the underground projects inside the wall had been halted, how were they underground?  
"Yes, we are. Our ancestors, the last humans, survived by using abandoned mines near ground water to create a sanctuary deep within the Earth. Everyone knows that."

"No, humans survived by building giant fucking walls!"

*************************************************************************************************************************************

Rats. Dirt. Cobwebs. All around filth. Levi sat, legs crossed so that the least amount of his body made contact with the horrors, surrounded by what was the most disgusting environment he had ever been in, including military barracks. Across from him was an oddly dressed guard, in what was presumedly a military uniform, nearly entirely khaki from head to toe, though it was difficult to tell in the horrible lighting.  
He couldn't believe this. From what he had figured out from the little hints that had been given to him, another human colony had survived outside the wall! But more shockingly, they tolerated this filth!

He wanted to pace, but that man was staring him down, probably awaiting the moment he would be able to spill blood, not to mention Levi really didn't want to step on anything disgusting. "Is it true?"  
"What?"  
"Humans survived underground?" He was apparently going to be executed, hopefully the squad leader would be able to make them reconsider, though either way, he desperately wanted out of this hell hole.  
"Are you a moron? Of course we did otherwise you wouldn't be here. But I can't believe you built a wall and it worked." He replied with a smirk, "Must be wonderful to live on the surface."  
Levi shook his head, though he understood that he should try to make friends with the guard to show that he wasn't hostile. "It's a living hell." He sighed, remembering those he lost, and those he never met and would never be able to, "After a hundred years of peace Titans have learned how to break the walls. We're cattle…"_ 'Petra...'_

"Awful… So they're capable of learning…"

"If Hanji's, the woman I am with, research is correct, then yes they are."

"She studies those things?"  
"She loves them, kind of." Except for the fact she'd lost so many of her closest friends to them. Her love for Titans was moderately sadistic if anything.  
"Crazy, you know what's crazier?" Boy this guy was talkative, "You probably don't know this since you didn't even know us." He paused to see Levi nod. "We weren't the only ones. There's a group way North. They took advantage of the dark season around the Arctic Circle-" He paused when he saw the confusion on the Captain's face, "You don't know what that is, do you?"

"No idea, but there are dark seasons?" How much did those inside the wall now know about the world they lived in?  
"Yeah, the winter up there is dark. Well, the Titans can't survive there because of it." Levi's expression changed to absolute shock when he heard this. "But every summer Titans encroach on them and migrate there. They eat quite a few, though they have laws there that every family unit has to have a certain number of children in order to keep the population up. So life is pretty stressful there, they get hitched young, You'd probably have two or three kids by now." He laughed, "I've been up there, there are kids everywhere you look."

"Everyone is too scared to have children where Hanji and I hail from, because to have children is to have something the Titans can destroy." Along with hopes and dreams, homes, and beautiful friendships.  
He sighed, "You?"  
Levi shook his head again, "She was killed."  
Another sigh. Albeit a sympathetic one. Life wasn't perfect underground either. Lung diseases were common, and infant mortality rates were high as such. "Levi was it?"  
"Yes."  
"I'm Sol, nice to meet you."  
Mission: Befriend The Guard; success.

*************************************************************************************************************************************

"Ow!" Hanji winced, being prodded down the dimly lit hallway with the butt of a gun, fettered with handcuffs. None of her captors said anything as they opened Levi's cell door and slid her inside. "Captain!" She cheered, tackling him. It would have been an embrace were her hands not chained up behind her back.

He wrapped his arms around her waist in shock, she was alive, thank goodness. Though he didn't express his relief outwardly like she did. "This is uncomfortable, can I let go now?"  
"Yeah, sure." She squirmed out of his grasp, which was humourous and cumbersome without the aid of her hands, though considering such, it was also quite the achievement, albeit her klutzy mistake when she knocked their foreheads together and the both slammed into the bench he was sitting on before. Hanji couldn't stop laughing, especially over the position they were in. "Who's on top now?!"

He couldn't hide, or even stall, the blush that crept across his face immediately. He was about to shove her away when she rolled off of him in a fit of giggles, "Your face!" She choked out, the syllables punctuated with laughter. So when she hit the ground Levi folded his arms across his chest in protest.  
As Hanji was quieting down. the guard, Sol, nodding towards the pair that brought Hanji in, "He's actually quite a nice guy." Levi noticed the exchange, and thanked his lucky stars that he tried to be friendly, it had probably been a test after all.  
They both nodded and Levi recognized the next voice as the woman who interrogated him, "Sorry for putting you two through that. We have to do what we have to do."

"As military, we understand." Levi stated as his companion finally collected herself and did a small curtsy after Sol undid her cuffs. "So why don't you tell us _your _method of fighting Titans?" He was very curious to see if they had developed a different method than they had, or if it was similar.  
Sol scoffed, and now that they had stepped out of the dark prison cell and into the somewhat brighter artificial light, Levi could see his dark brown hair and grey eyes, though his pupils were much larger than a normal persons, but that was possibly due to the dim lighting. "We don't fight them, we tried decades ago, but we failed, the surface is lost to us."  
Levi nodded, but he understood that if he played his cards right, that the scouts may just be able to get reinforcements if they came out far enough, which would be a powerful advantage over Titans. This could be a wonderful alliance, and he and Hanji had somehow ended up as the ambassadors. "Where are we going?" He could feel Hanji copying his every movement, apparently she wasn't done playing games yet.  
"To get you to a place to rest…" His eyes wandered over to the ever playful Hanji, "Hey, you're pretty cute."

Levi's eye twitched, but Hanji smiled and giggled at the compliment. Levi knew her well enough to know she planned on making him a game too, a human psychology experiment. Well, that's what Sol gets for flirting with his subordinate.  
What surprised him was Hanji's retort, "You are too… We don't have guys like you back home." Levi shivered as her voice got deeper and more airy, "Your eyes are gorgeous."  
The two would have continued flirting had Levi not taken the time to scold Hanji, "You do realize the situation we're in?!" He raised his tone subconsciously, and he felt surprised by the emotions that came over him, and worried that he may have come off more aggressively than he intended to.  
Hanji's eyes narrow and she smirked, "So you _do _get jealous!"  
Shit! It wasn't Sol's behaviour she was observing, it was his! And he fell for the trap! He wouldn't let her know how much this bothered him, he couldn't. "I just want you to retain a sense of professionality. We're representing our people." The fact that they had to was still shocking, that more humans survived than they knew.

"Levi, honestly, we're the worst people for the job." She sighed, "Erwin should do it, and Armin."  
"Erwin and Armin aren't here. We are."  
She groaned, frustrated, "Fine. But you need a bath." She knew this would tick him off, he probably felt more disgusting than he had in his entire life. "Though I totally call the first one!"  
"When pigs fly!" No way, he needed to get this dirt off of his body as soon as possibly. This was the most grime he had had one his skin _cumulative _since the day he was born.

Hanji laughed so hard that she ended up snorting, and Levi speculated that the stale underground air was getting to her head, "So, Sol, how far away are we from where you found us?"

"A week by ground boat, and by that I mean one of our underground rivers." Everytime he saw a look of surprise on their faces it dawned on him just how little they knew about the world. "How about… I show you two the things we've gathered-"  
"Can we clean up first?"  
"Yeah, sure." Sol sighed, he had been in charge of taking care of the guests for only a few minutes and it was already easy to predict their train of thoughts. "There's a place up here reserved for military visitors, though its never been used until now. It's still kept up just in case, it's good it finally has come to good use." He lead them down a linoleum hallway, their footsteps echoing down the path. At the end of the hallway was a metal door inlaid with mother of pearl and obsidian around the border, and the crest of a snake in the centre, catching the amber light of the dim path. The black handle and lock glinted in the golden flickering light. In front of the door was a short red headed girl, who jumped repeatedly when her blue eyes caught sight of the approaching trio. "They're real! This is awesome!" She spun the key to the door around her finger, and deftly unlocked it with a swift and delicate movement. Her black dress flowed behind her when she spun back around, her hair mimicking the movement and landing on her shoulder. She ran up and hugged Levi and Hanji, "I hope we can be good friends!"  
The girl was short, but she was still quite a bit taller than the midget captain, so as usual whenever a girl hugged him like this, he ended up with quite a bit more than expected in his face, not to mention he nearly choked on her perfume.  
The girl suddenly let go and skipped back over to the door, swinging it open for their visitors, "My name is Penny! I'll be the guard of this door for you!" She held her right fist up next to her right shoulder, and her left hand fell down to her side in a blade. Apparent this was their form of a salute.

Hanji blinked confused, she wasn't as used to being randomly saluted as Levi was, "Well, you can _not_ salute us? We're friends right?"

Penny giggles, holding her position, "But you're a squad leader, he's a captain, and Sol is a-"

"Penny, we can't disclose that just yet." Sol sighed, leading the pair into the door. "Bath room is that way." He pointed down the right hallway. "Check the closet for something to wear while we wash your clothes."  
While Levi was distracted preparing to go clean up, (He has his methods.) Hanji was stunned looking around the place. Artificial sunlight beamed through the window from the centre of the subterranean city, which looked more beautiful than the inside of wall Shina. The artificial sun was suspended right above the capitol building, from the cavern ceiling.

She looked around the room, it was practically a fully furnished condo. She noted that there was only one bedroom, which made sense considering that they never expected visitors in the first place. It was located on the opposite side of the condo from the bathroom, and so she decided to go check it out.

She ran her fingers over the soft red cotton bedspreads as she headed for the curtain above the mahogany headboard, and gently pulled open the velvet curtains, letting out a gasp at what she saw.

Blue and white, with the setting sun. There were little white lines across what she assumed to be water, it was obviously water, but she had never seen a lake that large in her life.

Sol came up behind her, "That's the ocean. This room was dug on accident actually. A miner took the wrong path, he nearly fell out in surprise when he opened up this hole and saw the ocean. Takes your breath away right?" He saw her nod, "That's how I feel everytime I look at you."

"It does." she blushed, but decided to push away his flirtatious attempts, they were in a bedroom after all so it would be best to ignore him, "All my years in the scouts and I've never seen anything like this. Your people have done so much more than ours." She pried herself away from the most beautiful thing she'd seen in her entire life and began to rummage through the drawers, until she pulled out a black swimsuit.  
"Can you give me a minute?"

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**Thank you for reading and please let me know what you thought!  
And for those of you here who wandered here from my other stories,**

**don't worry, they'll continue to be updated! ^^ (by that I mean just Ino's team, lol.)  
The next chapter shall hopefully be soon!**

**And introducing my beta-reader/WeDon'tKnowWhatElseSheIs:**

**DevilsMaidenRen!**

**(who is too lazy to write on her own :3)  
~Scepidilionz~**

_Ummm, I am being forced to write something... So… Hi…? :3  
*DevilsMaidenRen*_


	2. Moss

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**Wow, even with no reviews yet, I'm really pleased with the responses I got!**

**So thank you to everyone who is coming back to read this! :D**

**Especially:**

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**Chapter Two:  
Moss**

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Levi had just finished cleaning the dirt out from underneath his fingernails, and proceeded to wash his hair.  
Normally he didn't like baths, because the dirt just ended up mixing with the water, and how could one get clean when resting in a vat of diluted sludge? But this tub had filters. _Filters. _Not only that, but a shower wasn't even an option, apparently those underground had forgotten about those.

He ducked his head under the water to rinse out the suds, smashing copious bubbles and sending them flinging into the air with the impact.  
Although he practically jumped out of the water when the bathroom door was flung open, "I came in like a wreeeecking ball!" Hanji catapulted into the water, sending waves all across the bathroom.  
Levi scrambled for a towel, "Is nothing sacred to you?!"  
"Hey, at least I'm wearing a swimsuit." She snapped at the strap of her bikini, and elbowed his stomach mockingly.  
"Only I'm not swimming! I'm _bathing!" _He finally managed to wrap a towel around himself, ruining the fluffy white towel when it became submerged in the water. He would have to get another one.  
"You act like I haven't seen you shirtless before." She folded her arms across her chest, cocking a brow, mentally laughing over how red the captain's face was.  
"You haven't! And it's not my chest I'm concerned about!"

She rolled her eyes, scoffing, "You act like I don't study anatomy, better?"

"No! Get out-" He froze when Hanji leaned forward and lowered the towel from around his back to his hips..  
"You covered your back before your waist, clearly that's what's bothering you."  
"No it's not. I just wasn't thinking because you _barged in on me."_

"Turn around." When Levi showed no signs of moving, she took him by the shoulders to spin him, and gasped.  
He sighed, "You done? There, now you know. Get out."

She traced her fingers across raised lines across his entire back, scars, "This are from whips… and they're old… What happened?"

"Get out."  
"Not until you tell me!"  
"I'm not comfortable with this situation."

"Oh grow up!" She spun him back around to face her, "What happened?"  
He suddenly looked ashamed, "I was a kid and I got caught stealing."  
"People beat a kid over that?!" It broke her heart to know people could be mean to a child, and yet she saw it everyday, but it hurt her even more now knowing that one of those children was Levi.

"It was a medicine, someone I knew needed it badly. I was fifteen. They tied me to a post, when the Commander showed up and stopped them."  
Hanji's eyes widened when she realized what she was hearing, that the rumours of how Levi and Erwin met. That Levi was a criminal before he joined the scouts, and that the Commander was the one who dragged him into the force.  
"He said he would get me the medicine if I turned away my life of dishonesty, and worked under him in the Scout Regiment, and so I gave him my word. I enlisted the next time I could. He was stunned when I actually graduated three years later, and I joined the scouts right away."  
"Levi I'm sorry… I shouldn't have busted in like this…"  
"No, you shouldn't have, but it's fine now, that's all I had to hide." He put some soap into his palm and started to clean his face, no longer caring that she was there.  
Instead of getting up and leaving the room, she took some soap into her hand, "Lemme help." She saw the look of surprise on his face when she began to clean the dirt off his back, "It's the least I can do for putting you in the position to have to spill your most guarded secret-" She paused, there was no way she was the first to hear this story, "Did Petra know?"  
Levi sighed yet again, relaxing his muscles a bit, "She was the one who needed the medicine, but she didn't know I was a criminal, or that I got caught.  
"So I'm the first to see this?"  
"Third, after the man who raised me and the Commander."  
She paused, pouring water over his scars, "Wow…"

* * *

Sol was waiting on the couch when the pair came out of the bathroom together, wearing the military uniform of those underground. "You realize none of us actually wear that stuff, it's far too stiff." He uncrossed his legs, using his left foot to motion to their thick khakis.

"You're wearing it." Hanji pointed out as she sat down. "By the way, why the snakes? Aren't they bad luck?" She motioned to the emblems on the uniforms, and the door.  
"It's the crest of the Royal Family. The colour of the snake changes dependent on rank and regiment. The darker the colour, the higher the rank." He pointed to the crest on both his arms, where a black snake coiled around the sleeve.  
Levi smirked, still standing, "So you're not just a prison guard."

"Not at all!" He roared in laughter. "So let me show you everything-"

"Wait! Levi! Come here!" Hanji bolted upright, yanking her superior officer's arm towards the bedroom, pushing him towards the window. "That's the ocean, it's not a lake!" The view had changed since the last time she saw it, the amount of white on the waves had increased, and one could see the reflection of the starlight on the water.  
Levi scanned the horizon, "This room is built into a cliff face."  
"That… of course that would be the first thing you say." She pouted slightly, the ocean was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen, and Levi could only think about the cliff.

"Why do Titans not come?" He turned towards Sol.

"On the other side of this cliff is a very deep valley, the sun never shines in it."  
"So why not live on the surface since they can't reach this plateau?"  
"Because the people are afraid, not to say that we don't have small groups on the surface. In fact there's an island we're beginning to settle. The water there is too deep for most Titans to reach it." He turned around, "Ever heard of the Northern Lights?"

Sol lead them to a room in the heart of the city, and every turn held more surprises than the last. He unlocked a door and let them in, "You should see the city at night, or at least when it gets darker." Underground ran on a different time schedule than the surface, where it was already night. "You should see it on our way out." He pointed to countless pictures along the walls. "These are the places we've rediscovered, and this…" He walked over to a sphere, the was mostly blue but had plenty of green and brown on it. "It's called a globe. It's three hundred years old, and it's what our ancestors knew of the world. All that blue is water, like the sea you saw earlier."  
"All of it?! But that's the most of the sphere!" Hanji gazed at it with pure excitement in her eyes, this was everything she had ever wanted to know since a child. "The writing is strange, some of the letters are backwards. Like the R's."  
"We found this in the ice to the NorthEast. We believe it's the language from there, though it's hard to tell, it could have been imported. Each of the different places here had a different language and culture, we can tell from all of the artifacts we have found, it's remarkable, though many aren't here and are displayed in the palace instead. This place is just for research."

Levi peered over Hanji's shoulder to look at the globe, "I was told that long ago there were different kinds of people, but I had trouble believing it. Were they really all from different lands?"  
"Oh yes, they really were."  
While Sol was teaching the eager Hanji about the world, and showing her all the places that he had been to, Levi stared at all of the pictures. He saw oceans, ice covered lands, forests, plains that lie beneath acres of dust and sand, pink lakes, and the ruins of ancient buildings. Humanity had once existed across all of these places, happily, with no Titans to threaten their happiness and lives. Now they were just in cages, and it infuriated him. There were all of these places, and he wanted to see them, to feel them, to have the wind blow sand and dirt into his face, then to splash the river water in his face to remove it. He wanted to count the stars from the highest mountain peak.

He opened another heavy metal door to see creatures of all shapes and sizes behind bars, animals and plants he didn't recognize, except for a few from paintings, and a few that were supposed to only be legend. Orange cats with strips, some with black speckles, and others with crowns of hair. Striped horsed and tall ones with spots. Massive fish swam majestically in tanks larger than the average apartment, their imposing teeth striking a small amount of trepidation into his heart. There were a few he knew as well, like foxes and deer, wolves that he had learned to fear. Titans weren't the only things to kill scouts. On the other side of the room were giant snakes, as if the small ones weren't bad enough. Scaled lizards that were longer than he was tall.

By the time he had finished gawking, Sol and Hanji caught up, "These are creatures we have gathered for study. Though my favourite are the birds."  
Hanji stole a glance at everything around her as they went through another door, "Tigers? I thought those were myth, are the unicorns real too?"  
"Nope, but the talking birds are." Sol stated as he let them into his personal paradise.  
Countless birds soared across the rooms, while others gathered in flocks among the branches of trees. Some splashed in shallow waters, sending ripples across the ponds that glimmered pink off the reflection of their feathers. Colourful birds chirped out of the branches calling out ancient human words only they could remember, while others sang songs of the past.

Sol sat down to listen to the cacophonous melody around him, and numerous birds came over, one of the more daring landed on Hanji's head, tickling her scalp with its claws. "I still can't believe all of this exists." Hanji laughed, "I feel like I'm dreaming."  
Levi nodded in agreement, he was still having trouble stomaching all of it. "Good to know I would be in your dreams."

* * *

When they had finished bird watching, Sol led the pair out into the night. "Well, it's time, look up."  
Both did, the artificial sun had stopped glowing, but the tips of the stalagmites were pulsing with pale green freckles, all across the cavern ceiling. They looked almost exactly like stars, except close, more tangible, almost intimate.  
"It's a moss that grows because of the moisture here, beautiful, but highly poisonous if ingested." He nodded towards Hanji "Gorgeous and deadly, just like you."

Levi rolled his eyes as Sol began to flirt with Hanji again. After all, she was a grown woman, she could handle herself. He gazed back up to the fake starlight. "I wonder if it's toxic to Titans."  
This caught Hanji's attention, "Poisonous." She corrected.

"Whatever."  
"Well, Titans don't digest, so there would be no way for the poison to metabolize into the bloodstream." She looked up, surely Levi wasn't stupid enough to forget that small detail, but now it had her thinking, "Unless it's injected directly into the blood, or absorbed into the lining of the mouth, esophagus, or stomach. But even then the poison would have to spread faster than the Titan could recuperate, which is highly doubtful."  
"That's not what I mean, those things produce light."  
Hanji's eyes widened with sudden realization, of course! Her eyes wandered back up to the stars, this time with a different sparkle in her eyes, "You don't mean…!"  
"Titans use sunlight for energy, but what happens if their systems can't handle a different kind of light, causing them to react differently?"  
He would have continued had Hanji not huggled him, then sandwiched his face in between her palms, startling him, "Oh I could just kiss you right now!" She made a beeline for the nearest stairs, "I need samples! Hurry up!"

Levi and Sol followed after with utmost urgency, climbing up the metal service stairs to where the moss was accessible. Sol let them in with one of his keys, he seemed to have one for every door in the city, to a lab to get materials to extract the plants. "I'll admit, you two are brighter than I thought your ignorance would allow."

Levi leaned against a rock, allowing his partner to get to work with her science mumbo-jumbo. "Our government inhibits technological growth." Levi admitted and saw Hanji's expression change and her work slow, apparently the Commander had never told her the truth, about how much her life was truly in danger. How much the government despised her more and more with every one of her breakthroughs. "They've neglected to kill Hanji because they thought one of the scouting expeditions outside the wall would finish her off. They're probably rejoicing now that they think the two of us are dead."  
Hanji had never heard any of this, and it made her break out in a cold sweat. Of course she suspected it, but hearing it from Levi's mouth made her realize how true it was. She had always hoped that the government appreciated her work. But how long had Levi and the Commander known the truth? "The people are probably in a panic though. Many of them revered you, Levi. Well those who didn't hate your guts did."

Levi scoffed, "Unfortunately-" His words got caught in his throat, he had suddenly thought of the commander. How was he right now? Did he think they were dead as well? Did it bother him at all?  
Hanji suddenly felt the same way, making her work stall altogether. Sol sat wondering what form of silent communication had passed between them, "You two must be dangerous people, I'll have to remember that."  
Neither of them found his comment as humourous as he did, and continued to sit motionless. "I wonder if there's been an attack since we've been gone." Hanji felt guilty knowing that there may have been. How many more people died just because she took Levi away from them?  
"Knowing our luck… Probably. And when we return we'll just get blamed for it…"  
"Well at least our executions will be quick and we won't have to watch any more of our friends die. They'll probably get it over with before we enter the wall, at least we won't have to see everyone heart broken." Even so, she still wanted to go back, she wanted to see her home again.

The mutual gloom continues until Sol wrapped an arm around each of them, "How 'bout you two just go rest for the night? I'll see what I can do about getting another bed in there if you two want."

Hanji shook her head, "We're fine, plus I want to study these." She seal the containers the moss was in and slid them into her pockets. "Have our weapons been repaired?"  
"Yeah why?"  
"We need to go to the surface and extract Titan cells so I can see how the individual mitochondria react to the light, before we move into further testing. If the cells are at least damaged, we'll continue, if not, the experiment is obviously a failure."  
Sol nodded, boy he loved when she talked science, "We'll go get them now then, and your uniforms should be clean by now." He paused, taking a side glance at the quiet captain, "I can't believe you guys seriously fight those things."  
This brought Levi's mind back to Earth, "I can't believe you don't even try."

* * *

Hanji had been sitting, peering over a dimly lit microscope for didn't have any lights on because she was afraid of tainting the experiment with light from other sources, albeit even her presence would technically be tainting the experiment, as humans gave off small minute traces of light that were almost non examinable, though no one ever really accounted for that.

Levi stood guard in the corner, just as they had typically done back home. She had been at this for hours, and so far no results had been shown. "It's time to go to sleep."

"Go without me, I'll be awhile."  
"That would be ineffective, I'm a light sleeper you know that." Which was a handy trait being in the scouts, "I would wake up as soon as you entered, thus disrupting my sleep cycle." If there was anything that would pry her away from her precious experiment, it was more science, "Come on."  
"No thank you." She didn't look up from the lens, "If a slight sleep disruption disturbs you, you can wait."

"We need at least ninety minutes to get into REM sleep, we have three hours until we need to be awake for tomorrow. You know what happens to people who are sleep deprived as well as I do, if no better, especially those who get very little REM."  
"Restlessness, loss of productivity, anxiety, irritability, and more, I know the facts." She was still glues to her study, not even batting an eyelash as she threw out the symptoms.  
"Exactly, and you need to be productive to get this done, now don't you. You'll just do so much great for humanity when you've run yourself dry, until you become so exhausted your reflexes slip and you're unable to dodge your test subjects and become their next victim. Well, at least we'll be able to kill the Titans since everyone else is too terrified to get close and study them, after countless more deaths of course, given the little information we have. Then everyone we know will die of course, because they never received better Titan fighting information, including myself. I mean I would hate to explain to all those mothers who lose their children that the only reason they were eaten is because our soldiers weren't well enough equipped because we lost our best researcher- Oh wait, I wouldn't be able to, because I would have died while protecting your grave from being smashed beneath a Titan foot. Oh well, at least you got in one extra hour of research."  
Hanji sighed, turning off the microscope. She couldn't believe that Levi placed all of his hope for humanity in her, "You just really want to sleep with me don't you?" She retorted, not wanting to let him know how much his words affected her, of course he question would tick him off, which was an added bonus.  
But he wasn't falling for it this time, "Well there is more than one way to prevent humanity's extinction." He smirked, and even though he couldn't see in the horrible lighting, only the moss giving off the smallest amount, he could tell Hanji's face would be bright red after that one.

She walked up to him, yanking on his cravat, "There's also suspended animation, and gene splicing, though it's a gamble since humanity doesn't have the technology yet… So your idea is much more sound unless you feel like trying mine."

He smirked, trying to seem like the more empowered one in the situation, which was difficult given their height contrast. He needed to dismantle the situation before it went too far, but hell, he was enjoying it. He wanted to see how far she would go, his curiosity was eating away at his conscience. He hid the fact that he had to stand on his toes to whisper in her ear, "We can always go find out which method is more… efficient."  
Hanji suddenly broke giggles, taking her turn, "You're…" She paused deliberately to taunt him, watching him squirm was hilarious, "Terrible at this." Which was a lie, in fact, it was driving her crazy how he managed to keep up with her banter.

She released her grip on him, "See you in the morning, I'll be asleep by the time you recover from… this." She bent her knees slightly and kissed his cheek tauntingly, "Turn everything off please." She spun away and headed for the bedroom.  
Levi released the breath he didn't realize he had been holding, which came out like a 'whew'. His heart was beating like a rabbits, and he felt it might just fly out of his nose somehow.  
She had definitely won that.

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**Well there was chapter two! ^^ **

**Also, these chapters may or may not take a bit longer than my usual ones, why?  
Because I'm writing them by hand before hand! (Haha double hand!)**

**I find this helps make my writing significantly better! ^^**

**Please let me know what you think! :D**

**~Scepidilionz~  
**

**(EDIT) I am terribly sorry everyone that I had to remove the stars. For some odd reason, Fanfiction decided to be the biggest pain in the arse and delete them and I tried SEVERAL times to put them back in to make it easier for everyone to understand that transitions. You have my sincerest apologies. **


	3. Beach Day

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**Thank you Kariared for Starlight's first review!**

**Thanks also to:**

**Jojocircuss, Imtoolazytowritearealcoolname, Ruler of The Fake Empire, ****and Ren Sakura!**

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**Chapter Three: **

**Beach Day**

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Sol wandered into the condo, and gazed around. He didn't hear or see anything other than the humming of the lab equipment he had set up for Hanji in the extra room.  
He tiptoed and peered quietly into the bedroom, "Comrades my ass." He muttered under his breath, shaking his head in disappointment. Hanji had her arms and legs wrapped around her captain like he was a giant stuffed bear, and he was using her neck as a pillow. If he had a camera on him, he would have snapped a picture to use as blackmail later.  
"Well they are in the military." Penny giggled, she had snuck in behind Sol, "They've probably had to sleep together on the job before, it happens all the time, they're probably used to it." She elbowed him, giving him a teasing look, "What about all the times _you've _had to share a bed with girls during a job?" She nearly knocked him over, for someone so tiny she was stronger than she looked.

"That was how I met you, right?" He didn't remember much from that long ago, but he took her hand and led her into the living room so they wouldn't wake the sleeping pair with their talking

She laughed, "No, I'm the one who pulled you out of the river after you hit your head."She understood why Sol wouldn't remember that, he had lost a large portion of his long-term memory after the accident. "Never would I have guessed that I had saved the prince." That was a lie, she knew she saved the prince. She had put her duty to the kingdom before even saving her own husband. And that was why she was a widow now, because she was loyal to the kingdom before all else. Though Sol didn't remember who her husband was, and she always refused to tell him when he asked.

Some guessed that it was an assassination set by the youngest of the three brothers to kill off the eldest two. The crown prince had died that night.

"I didn't even remember who I was until someone told me." He looked towards the small kitchen, "Wanna make breakfast? I'm sure they were up late, we should give them some more rest." Sol decided to take the visitors to the shoreline to learn more about them and their society, because ultimately, he would be the one deciding whether or not he would agree to go meet with their king to establish a treaty, or just kill them off.

Penny glanced through the pantry and ice box, "It's completely empty. I should get a few things. Bacon?"  
Sol did his best pig impression, snorting, "Of course! Say, why don't you bring Orion? I'm sure he'd love to see the training fields by the sea.

"This isn't a joyride Sol, plus he's still a child… He could get hurt…"  
"He's eight, and he wants to join my reconnaissance squad. He'll need everything he can get to make that group, I'm not the only one who would have to approve him. Your little boy will be fine, I promise." He ruffled her hair, messing it up, but she wasn't one to care about things like that.

"Fine… Though he looks up to you, so don't do anything stupid."  
"Like kiss his mother dramatically as we ride a dolphin into the sunset?"  
"Exactly like that."

* * *

Levi stirred at the smell of food, he was starving. He tried to sit up, but he found himself restrained. "Wha…?" Hanji had him in some sort of bear hug. There was no way he could get up without disturbing her, which would make him the ultimate hypocrite because he was the one who convinced her to go to sleep to begin with. So with a sigh he put his head back down against his pillow, determined not to wake her up, however much of an inconvenience it may be.

That was when a young boy came hurdling into the room, tumbling onto the bed, "The Titan slayers are awake! Mom!"  
"Yes?" Hanji grumbled in her sleep, beginning to wake up from the sudden noise, "Go back to sleep… We'll be up… In a minute." She snored slightly to punctuate her sentence, and both Levi and the boy gawked at her, wondering what was going on in the recesses of her mind.  
Her eyes opened as it dawned on her as to what she had said aloud, I was dreaming or something!" She tried to explain, flinging herself away from Levi. Great, first embarrassing moment of the day. She darted out of the room as fast as she could, her hair a mess.  
She flew passed the couple in the kitchen as she headed towards her experiment, "Sol! Penny! Good to know you two have a kid!" She flung the door open, and slammed it shut behind her quickly, hoping that no sunlight hit the microscope, and plopped down in front of her samples and controls. Though she didn't twitch when Levi followed her in.  
"You know, breakfast is ready." He wandered over to her, placing his right hand on her left shoulder.  
"Give me a sec." She slid the sample under the microscope, closing her eyes, "Please. Please. Please." She chanted under her breath, praying with all of her soul that Levi's whim could turn the battle with the Titans around, a weapon to combat her nightmares.

She reached out a hand and was surprised when Levi took it, stroking the back of her hand with his thumb, "Ready?" She asked, looking up at his face even though she couldn't see it in the darkness.  
"Ready."  
She peered down through the eyepiece and squeezed his hand, feeling sick to her stomach over anticipation. Levi closed his eyes, "Well?" He asked, not sure what she was seeing.  
"You're never gonna believe this." She paused, unsure of the words that were about to fall from her mouth, "The cells have stopped working, the mitochondria have stopped functioning… They're dead."

* * *

Sol could hardly contain his excitement at breakfast, "This is wonderful! Just how will it be used as a weapon?" Even Orion was excited, although the ten year old had no idea what was going on. All he knew was that the Titan killers had discovered another way of killing Titans.  
"I was thinking direct injection via gunshot into the cardiovascular or pulmonary system, which would destroy the cells related to blood flow, crippling the Titan. That or the nape, where we usually cut, severing the Titans nerves from the inside. The latter seems more plausible given what we currently know about Titans." She looked at the smiling Orion, he had Sol had the same smile, and he looked exactly like Penny, only there was no way Sol could have a child that old now that she thought about it. She looked to Levi and wiped a toast crumb off his chin, how unusual for him to make a mess of himself.  
Penny nudged Sol to respond, who was sitting there pensively in silence. He finally spoke up, "We don't build weapons like that regularly, I'm not even sure I'd be able to find someone to do it."  
Penny cleared her throat, swiveling slightly in her chair as she sat up straighter, "I can!" She smiled, and Orion looked up at his mother with admiration in his eyes, "Arrows would be the easiest, but bullets would have better penetration power and require less training to use, however, they couldn't hold as much of the moss as arrows."  
Hanji nodded, "I wonder if I would be able to isolate the chemical sequence that causes the moss to grow and somehow bind it with the metal in our blades…" She shot a side glance at Levi, "But the next question would be how much we would have to use to cause an immediate effect, because even on the cellular levels I tested it took hours to show any effect." If it took too long the moss wouldn't be of any use in the field except in long drawn out missions or attacks. "Because even though the bullet would have more penetrating capabilities, they might not be able to hold enough to do any damage at all, also the bullet would have to be hollowpoint to be able to release the moss into the target, because keeping it where the light didn't touch the cells would be useless."  
Sol downed the rest of his carrot juice, "Well I guess we'll just have to find out, now won't we?"  
Penny gawked at him, "There are strict rules set by your father-"  
"I know what they are, he just can't find out. I won't ask you to come and risk losing your career." He sure was setting a terrible example for Orion, but oh well, the boy might as well know that some rules are meant to be broken when the situation demands it. And if you were good enough, indispensable, you could quite often get away with it if you explained yourself well enough.

She pouted, folding her arms childishly, "Of course I'd go! I never let my friends do something stupid without me. Someone has to bail them out when things get messed up! Might as well be me." She smiled.  
"So you do love me!"  
"Oh shut it!"  
Hanji couldn't help but laugh, the two quarreled like an old married couple who had grown sick of each other. Excluding when Penny was hugging his eyes out of his sockets. It was almost comical. "So when would we go?" She was all too eager to test how the Titans would react to the moss, maybe they would scream!  
"Well, Penny here would have to make the weapons… And I was thinking of taking the two of you to see the sea." He paused to think, "Penny, how long would it take?"  
"Five days! But only if you give me plenty of sugar." She smiled again, nudging his rib cage with her elbow.  
"Please, Sugar is the last thing _you _need."

"For someone so flirtatious you sure are oblivious." Levi couldn't help but project his thought outward. For some odd reason he felt the need to get a verbal jab at Sol… Why?  
Hanji laughed even more than she already was, "It's funny because it's true!" She nearly choked on air from laughing so fervently, it was getting to the point where she was wheezing, making Levi roll his eyes. His joke hadn't been _that _funny. At least Penny was keeping her snickers in check.  
"You know, I was actually talking about sugar. I expect a six pound gummy bear in my workshop!" She stood up to gather everyone's plates, since they all seemed to have finished. "but clearly Levi had something else on his mind."  
Levi felt the most minuscule blush creep to his cheeks as Hanji started roaring even louder, which he didn't think would have been possible. Even Sol was chuckling as his face met his hand, "No matter, let's head to the ocean side, Shall we?"

* * *

Hanji felt the sea breeze ruffle her hair from where it was tied behind her head, threatening to pull several strands loose, and the few that had already escaped tickled the back of her neck with every gust of wind. "I never imagined it would feel this nice." The sun felt amazing on her skin.  
Levi couldn't believe how safe he felt, and yet his body was instinctively staying on guard, no matter how much he tried to relax. Maybe it was the fact he wasn't dressed in his omni directional gear that he felt on edge. He tried to relax like Hanji was, but it just didn't come to him as naturally as it did her.

Sol kicked the sand with every step, flinging it everywhere, hitting Levi in the face with the grains on numerous occasions. Orion was marching behind him in a similar fashion, giggling.  
Penny was the only one observing the soldiers around them, "This is where we train our couriers, they learn to swim here, where the water travels much faster than the underground rivers. Especially on the river to the North." She smiled, increasing her stride to catch up the Hanji. "You seem to be enjoying yourself."  
"I am, it's beautiful and feels free. Free is something I've always wanted to feel, and it's one of the reasons I joined the scouts." She looked at Levi, who seemed miserable now that the sand was working its way into his shoes. "I think that's the reason everyone joins the scouts though."

"I see." Penny smiled and began to march comically, mocking Sol, "I joined the military serve the military to serve the kingdom, no other reason really." The men got further ahead of them as Sol showed Orion all of the equipment. "Though I did meet my husband through my service." She sighed happily, remembering days passed.  
"You're married?!" She looked at Penny quizzically. She would have never thought her to be married with the way she and Sol were always flirting.  
"I was, he drowned."  
"Oh… I'm sorry…"  
"it's fine, I got over it long ago. I was just worried how Orion would grow up without a father." She saw the puzzlement on Hanji's face, "What is it?"  
"Well… He just looks so much like Sol." She hoped she wasn't crossing any boundaries that would upset Penny, but yet the girl still had a smile on her face, as always.  
"Sol… Doesn't know this… But Orion's father is Sol's older brother, who drowned the night I rescued Sol. They were on a boat together, accompanied by two dozen soldiers, myself included, when an explosive detonated and capsized the ship." She closed her eyes, the night was still fresh in her mind, but she always fought to lock up the memories. "Sol has no idea he's Orion's uncle. He lost all of his memories up until the point of the ship wreck when he hit his head on a rock."  
'Wow… That must have been so painful for you." She hated asking, but she felt like it was her obligation to know more, to know everything about the underground city's history. But why was Penny admitting all of this to someone she barely knew? "But two dozen soldiers?"  
"Well, they're the royal family after all." She smiled, "The king refuses to accept it because I found out I was pregnant after the wreck, but Orion is the crown prince of the kingdom, or rather should be." She sighed, "The moron thinks I slept around to have a child to claim the throne, but that couldn't be further from the truth. The proof is right there in Orion's face, but the old man is blind-" She suddenly stopped and spun around on her heels, scanning the beach.  
Hanji would have asked more had she not noticed Penny's muscles tighten, ready for action at any given moment. She suddenly lost that safe feeling she had had up until that point. "Something wrong?" She questioned tentatively, worried about the answer she might receive. These people didn't fight Titans, and neither she nor the Captain were armed.  
That was when an abnormal hurled itself across the dark valley from the sunny patch of the canyon on the other side, directly onto the beach, going straight for a group of marching trainees, who were powerless to defend themselves and wound up in the Titan's gullet.  
Levi turned around as soon as he heard their terrified and pitiful cries for help, and his hands flew down to his sides to draw his blades.  
But they weren't there.  
He scanned his surroundings for something, anything, sharp enough to cut Titan flesh, but saw nothing. These people had gotten so complacent in their underground burrows that they had failed to develop the proper technology for fighting Titans! "The kitchen?!" He spun to face Sol.  
"This isn't the time for a sandwich!" He picked up Orion, who was frozen stiff in shock.  
"Where is it?!" He was about to grab Sol's collar if he didn't hurry up and spill the beans, but as soon as Sol pointed, he darted in that direction.

He scrambled to find the two largest and sharpest knives, and thankfully, there were two sushi knives within reach, a set.  
"CAPTAIN!"

He was running out the green tent flap when he heard Hanji scream. Sure, he found the knives, but what the hell was he planning to do with them without his Omni Directional Gear?  
The Titan had Hanji. He was pulling at her limbs experimentally, almost as if to see how she would scream. Only she refused to, her screams and cries were stifled by the tears rolling down her cheeks, which only made the Titan pull more in frustration.

He had one shot.  
He made a beeline for the rocks behind the Titans back, scaling the slippery surface steadily, carrying the knives carefully in his hands, being cautiously about not letting them touch the rocks, if they dulled any more than they already had they might not be sharp enough to use, that is, if they were sharp enough to begin with.  
Hanji finally broke, screaming as the Titan was about to put her in its mouth, but Levi was just about to make it to the top of the wet rocks, he could see her, and she could see him, and the tiniest spark of hope lit up in her eyes.

He had a plan, as shaky as it was. All he had to do was jump off of these rocks-  
He slipped.

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**Needless to say, I am extremely proud of this chapter. (Which is highly unusual. I usually see my writing, look at Dickens, then cry. 'Tis a normal problem.)  
But for my first actual fight scene thing **_**ever**_** I am very proud. **

**I hope you liked it as much as I enjoyed writing it!  
Please tell me what you think!  
~Scepidilionz~**


	4. Onwards! Let's Go Home!

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**Thanks to Kariared and Wtfguy12 for your reviews!**

**Also thanks to:  
.79827 and csO!**

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**Chapter Four:  
Onwards! Let's go home!**

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Levi barely had enough time to realize that he still had the knives in his hands, as he went plummeting towards the Titan's head. He still had a chance to fix this, he still had a chance to save her. He landed on the Titan's head, on his feet thanks to his quick thinking, and from there he salvaged his coordination enough to fling himself off in a spinning whirlwind of metal, slicing his target zone clean off.

Hanji squirmed out of the abnormal's grasp, hitting the sand with a thud, knocking the air out of her lungs.

Levi hopped down to land beside her, silently examining all the areas the Titan had been pulling at. He set the blades to his left, not caring about the fact he was saturated in Titan blood.

"I… I'm sorry." Hanji gasped out, looking up at his solemn expression.  
"To hell Hanji, you're not the one who should be apologizing!" He knelt down beside her, cupping her face in his bloodstained hands, looking at her, worry present in his visage, "What could you possibly be apologizing for?"

"Hanji…" He sighed, preparing to tell her the harsh reality of what had just happened, "Had you not gotten caught I would not have been able to kill that Titan."

She was obviously perplexed, her confusion mixing with pain on her face,"What?"  
"The rocks, where you were, it was the perfect spot… The rocks are the only elevated place on this beach that I could have climbed." He moved his hands away from her face, to rest on his knees, "That and… I almost thought I wouldn't be able to do it… Then I heard your voice, and I realized I had to. With no gear and two old sushi knives."

Hanji forced herself to sit up despite the pain in her back from the fall. "I would hug you, but my arms are dislocated." She gave a meek smile accompanied by a nervous chuckle. A hug right now would be extremely painful, but it was better than being dead.  
"Ah." He frowned and prepared to pop her arms back into place in the way the medical team taught him on his first expedition outside the wall, which felt like forever ago, starting with her left arm. "Three… Two…" He counted down to give her time to brace herself, "One." She whimpered a little bit, but other than that stayed strong. She let him take over again to get ready for her other arm, flexing her fingers as they repeated the process. "You'll be sore for a bit, though I think you'll be fine." His eyes wandered back to the now evaporating Titan corpse in disgust.

"Thank you…" She mumbled as Sol and Penny came running over, in shock that Levi had managed to kill the nightmare fuel, Orion in tow.  
Levi was furious, "You left her!" He glared at Penny, too angry to hide his feelings away, "You left her to die!" He felt a sudden pang of guilt in his gut, remembering the Fifty-Seventh expedition outside the wall. How Eren screamed over the comrades they let die, and at this moment, he felt the same fury as Eren did back then.  
"I was getting help! I didn't know until it was too late!" She tried to defend herself, but guilt filled her eyes, accompanied by tears, "I'm so sorry Hanji."

Hanji managed to smile despite her pain, directed at both Levi and Penny, "I don't blame you. There was a lot going on…" She looked to Levi, who was uncharacteristically pouting. "We've had comrades die before."  
Levi snapped, plucking her out of the white sands, a little too roughly, "But. They. Weren't. You!" He let go of her shirt collar, and she managed to stay standing, "I wasn't stranded with them away from everything and everyone I know! I didn't some how end up gallivanting on some ridiculous adventure with them! They didn't carry humanity's greatest hope inside their fragile little skulls! That's you, Hanji, all you! Because you're the only person who can drive me this damn crazy!"

Hanji got quiet, thinking out loud, "Petra…" She whispered to herself, even though the others could hear, "You're still in love with her…"

Sol and Penny began to back up, each holding one of Orion's hands, to give the pair the space they obviously needed, when Levi somehow calmed himself down. "Petra has nothing to do with this. She's dead. You're alive. It's that simple."  
"You've been thinking of her." She walked over and tilted his chin up to force him to meet her eyes. "I don't blame you, Penny looks just like her."  
"I have not."  
"You have. That's why you're so upset right now… Captain… It's okay." She wrapped her arms around him, pulling him as close as she could in her injured state, "I'm okay." She stroked his back, and could feel him trembling just the slightest bit.  
"I can't lose you too."  
"I know." She pulled him down into the sand that had almost been her grave. "Look, a sunset not blocked by trees or walls!" She looked towards the scarlet sky, awestruck.  
He looked as well, it was one of the most breathtaking things he had ever seen. He took her hand into his, "This world is so cruel… Yet so very beautiful."

* * *

"I've been summoned to meet with the King." Sol announced as he re-entered the door to the condo, he had disappeared for an hour, slamming the door shut behind him, and expedition supplies onto the table.  
'What's with the stuff, pops?" Orion sat forward in his chair curiously. The packs on the counter were military, even he recognized that.

"In case I don't come back. Everything you need for the surface. Tree boards, sleeping bags, tents, food and water, even some waterless soap for Levi." He looked towards Penny, "Ninety minutes, tops. You get everyone out of here if I don't… Where are the star-struck love birds?" He looked around, not seeing the pair.  
"In the bird bath." She paced up to him, nervousness on her face, "What's wrong? You seem spooked." It wasn't everyday that Sol was so nervous about the surface, he loved it. The sky, the sun, everything.

"It's never a good thing when he wants to speak with me. You know that. I figure he might order their execution, he likely found a way to blame them for today's attack." He stroked her cheek with his calloused thumb, a tad concerned, 'There are five horses waiting for you, one to carry extra supplies so you can move faster. I'll catch up as soon as I can."  
Penny was now more nervous, the ever present smile fading from her lips for the third time today, "You're being more than cautious. Aren't I supposed to protect you?" She looked at Orion through her peripheral vision, who was back to calmly reading his book, "Their weapons? And mine?"  
"With the horses. Equip before you ride. I also put buckets of moss for Hanji." He reached up and began to twirl her hair around his pointer finger before hugging her. "Be safe. I'm sorry I can't send guards… If the King wants them dead, my word means nothing. They're good people. I truly believe our people can learn from each other… I'm sorry to place such a burden on your shoulders… You have Orion to worry about… But you're the only person I can trust with this…"

"MiLord, it's my duty to serve you in any which way you require of me. I serve the kingdom, not the King, and I believe you have the heart to deliver the best interests of her people." She released herself from him to deliver a salute, smiling, "Wherever the road may lead, we shall wait for you."

"Spoken like a true soldier." He walked over to Orion, "Hey buddy, take care of your ma and those losers for me." He ruffled the boy's flaming red hair, smiling.

"Pops, I'm ten. Barely double digits here." He laughed, pushing his hand away, "But I'll do my best!"

"Good." He smiled, turning back around to plant a kiss on Penny's cheek before he made his way to the door and headed to meet with the man he dreaded most, his father.

* * *

"You see, Sol, the people are becoming aware of their existence! They say to walk out into the sun! Others disagree! It will tear the people apart! What ever happened to civil unity?!" The King stood up from his throne, blue cape flying out from underneath him as he shook his fist angrily at his son, "And you support those two! These two… Things that practically feel from the sky!"

"I do." Sol spoke calmly, "I believe an alliance would be mutually beneficial for our people. For Humanity to prosper we must reunite ourselves." He was standing straight than normal, refusing to let the old man know just how intimidated he was.  
"You're… a heretic! What, bond our people like we did with those Northern Savages?! At your discretion! Even now their blood taints that of our people! You know nothing of this world and what it takes to maintain it!"  
"They are not savage! They are human just as we!" He thought of the people, terrified of the Titans, struggling to hold them back. How the colorful sky seemed to manifest itself in the hearts of the people, their faces. The beautiful families. He took a powerful step forward, the heel of his boot hitting the floor with a clack, echoing throughout the hall. "And I know more than you of this world! I have seen it! I have seen Mother Earth's fields of Sand! Her mountains! Her rivers! The endless waters just beyond the narrow confines of our home! I have felt the rain turn cold, and seen it rest as glittering flakes upon the ground! I have felt the sun on my skin!" Another step forward, "I have seen the way the starlight makes human eyes glitter!"

"And what do those scum know of it?! They cower behind their walls as cattle for the Titans!" He was completely unphased by how passionate Sol was about the surface.  
Sol, on the other hand, was done. He was done playing dumb, and done hiding from his own father. "They cower behind the walls and we grovel in the dirt! But they, unlike us, refuse to pine away in the darkness!" Sol was furious, it was evident as he took a step forward. His uniform seemed so out of place in the throne room. He refused to hold his tongue to a man who would never understand the beauty of the world, "You named me for the sun and yet you refuse to see it!"

"Shut up! You are not to leave the palace walls any more!"  
"Watch me! I've been sneaking passed you since my seventh year!"

This made the King furious, "I shall punish you for your disobedience! Stella!" He called for the raven haired Knight, who immediately stepped forward in a salute. "Kill the humans in question! Also kill Penny and her brat! They have annoyed me enough!"  
"Yes sir-"  
"They are innocent!" Sol tried to run through the doors, but was restrained by guards, "Unhand me!"  
Stella bowed to the King, and then Sol, whispering something strange into his ear, "My apologies Lord Sol." She spun through the door, footsteps as silent as her eyes were emotionless.

* * *

Levi strapped on the last bit of ODM, and finally became aware of how Orion was staring at him, blue eyes glittering with the brightest sparkle. "What?" He asked, wondering what the boy was thinking. He looked over to Hanji, who appeared to be having trouble with the last clip on her back, and was dancing around like a fool trying to get it.

"You… Look like how I always imagine my dad! Like a hero!" He smiled, tugging on Levi's arm, "Can I watch you kill Titans? Please!"

Levi felt something change in his heart as he looked at the boy, "Um… Sure, but hopefully we don't run into any." He ruffled Orion's hair, unsure of how to deal with the situation, but as soon as he messed up the boy's hair he found himself fixing it.

Penny chuckled, seeing the exchange from where she was helping Hanji. "Gosh, imagine the day you have to change diapers."

Levi couldn't help but roll his eyes, "Never happening."  
Penny wasn't done with the joke. She helped Orion onto a horse, "Please, that would be the cleanest bottom in the world." Orion grabbed the reigns, given he was a confident rider. "Though let's get going, just in case he isn't just running late." She hopped onto her horse, and Levi and Hanji mirrored her movements.

The horses were much thinner than the ones they remembered, but they were also much taller. "What's our plan of action here?" How would Sol know where to find them? Their actions seemed far too haphazardly thrown together.

"We'll be waiting in the Canyon. There's a meeting place there only Sol's squad knows about. So even if people were ordered to find us, they wouldn't be able to. His squad doesn't obey the king, only Sol." She gently nudges her horse's hindquarters with the back of her boot to convince the chestnut stallion, Pumpkin, to get moving, all while keeping a close eye on her son.

Levi nearly fell off his black mare, Lune, when she took off after Pumpkin. These horses were _way _faster than the scouts'. Once he regained control, he looked at Hanji, who seemed to be having the time of her life. So this was freedom to her, but what was his freedom? How would he ever find it in this world? It certainly wasn't in a bottle of bleach.

Then he realized, it was right in front of him.

No, not his horse, or these damn trees. Technically it was slightly over to his right. It was-

"Captain! Look!"Hanji's voice interrupted his thoughts as she pointed to a pair of nesting birds, "Either that's a new species with _crazy_ sexual dimorphism, or a dove and a raven nesting together!" Her white stallion, Ika, knickered, empathetic to her excitement. "A cross species nest!" The birds ignored the ruckus the scientist was causing beneath them.

"How… Do you notice these things?" He directed Lune over to get a better look, but found his eyes wandering over to the scientist, and places where they shouldn't be. But once he snapped back to attention he noticed the birds, it was indeed a dove and raven. The dove, probably the female given it's slightly smaller size compared to doves he had seen before, was sitting on top of a clutch of eggs. Though they couldn't seem them because of how she was resting.

Orion had a good enough sense of balance to be able to stand on his brown horses back and be able to see, "Wow Miss Hanji! You sure have good eyes!" The boy exclaimed, sitting back down on his mare, Olive, and called for the other brown mare, Urd, who was beginning to wander.

Then suddenly, the pair of birds took off, revealing a clutch of broken and empty eggs.  
Hanji climbed the tree to investigate, "These are robin eggs… The blue is unmistakable." This was by far the strangest thing she had ever seen birds do, and that said something, because she had seen ducks in _trees _before. "H'm… I wonder what this means, and why those birds were doing this."

Levi shrugged, "Simple, they're not the same species, so they can't reproduce."

"Technically they can, they have the same number of chromosomes…" She had heard of interspecies friendships, but she never thought she would be able to see one so close. "though their offspring would be sterile."  
"Well, life is a beautiful mystery.' Penny smiled, "But we should get going, we're almost there. There's this meadow we have to cross, the only place in this valley the sun shines, and of course, the only place in this valley Titans live. Though there's only nine, at least there were nine last time we checked." She was terribly worried about taking Orion though the meadow, but there was no way around it, at least not to where they needed to go."

"Are there trees in it?" Levi questioned as Hanji climbed down from the tree and saddled Ika again, "It's easiest for us to fight where there are trees or tall buildings."  
Penny nodded, "Yeah there are scattered groves of pines." They began riding again, slightly faster than they had been traveling before. "These horses were bred to outrun Titans, and they can, by a lot. So we should just bolt through the meadow as fast as we can, that's the safest way." She pulled at the straps of the pack attached to her back to draw it tighter and closer. She felt terribly nervous about the journey to come.

**.**

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**Hey everyone! Sceppy here!  
I really liked writing this chapter! Especially when Sol snaps at his father. ^^**

**I hope you liked it too! :D  
Let me know what you thought! :D  
~Scepidilionz~**

_DMR flails in the background yaaaaay!_


	5. One Disaster, Two Disaster, Three, Four!

**Hello everyone!  
Sorry this took **_**forever **_** I know.  
But… School started, and I had band camp, and everything got SO crazy.  
(I haven't updated my other story since… a month ago. So yeah.)  
But I would like to thank everyone who reviewed, followed, and favourited!  
And of course to everyone who read!**

**.**

**Chapter Five:  
One Disaster, Two Disaster, Three Disaster, Four!**

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**.**

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There were a few less Titans than Penny remembered, now there were only four or so, unless the rest were hiding in the trees, if that was physically possible for a Titan.  
Hanji held her reins slightly tighter, these Titans were large. Two twelve-meter and two ten-meter Titans. She snuck a glance at Levi, who was stoic as usual.  
Just Titans, what could go wrong? Her near death experience, only earlier that day, was getting to her. Hanji Zoe, afraid of Titans?  
Truth be told she was always afraid of them. She just showed it in a different way than most. She turned her fear into a hunt for knowledge, into something she could fight with, to cast aside her fears like dusty curtains, throwing them opening to let the light in.

Right now, she was far more than afraid. She was petrified. "Levi… I…"  
Levi took a glance at the squad leader, she was paler than normal. Generally, she would be bouncing up and down at the chance to see Titans like this, "It's okay." He looked back ahead, not giving any sign that he could sense how nervous he was, and that he reciprocated it. It worried him, seeing her drawn so tight over something that characteristically excited her.  
While he was speaking to her, he only had one hand on his reins, the other hand resting gently on his thigh. As a result of this, he went tumbling to the ground at the sudden burst of speed his horse gave when a Titan gave chase, slamming his head into the ground, and unfortunately a rock. He tried to get up, but found himself too dazed to attempt moving, even though he knew he had to, but his head was foggy and his body wouldn't listen. He heard Hanji yelling, but his vision was fading as he felt a giant hand coil around his body, and the screaming got louder and more desperate, though he couldn't make out what she was saying, not even then.

He fumbled around in his blindness and disorientation, only to end up dropping his blades, mentally cursing himself with the little consciousness he had left.  
Though he didn't panic, like he'd ever let these bastards kill him.  
Hanji, on the flip side, was in full panic mode, when Penny whipped out her bow, notching an arrow, "Duck!" Hanji dropped down just quickly enough to hear an arrow whizz passed, just where her head had been a moment ago. Hanji looked up to see the arrow aimed far too low, and knew it would miss, when it suddenly curved upward, piercing the inside of Titan's mouth firmly with a loud thud cutting through the air.

It screamed.  
It was the most amazing thing Hanji had ever seen, or heard. Its cries of panic, and pain. _Pain. _The Titan's felt pain.  
The Titan dropped Levi, as it darted away, blood gushing out of its wounded mouth.  
Hanji rode as fast as her horse would allow, but she jumped off as they got closer, flinging herself to where the captain would land, but she knew she wouldn't make it, and her eyes watered in desperation, if only she had started moving sooner instead of sitting there aghast.  
He slammed into the ground with a sickening thud, and Hanji could have sworn she heard something crack. From that height, there was no way he couldn't have broken any bones. "Captain!" She shouted, she screamed, crawling over to him, scraping her knees on the cold, hard, unforgiving Earth, "Levi… Can you hear me?" She cradled him in her arms, noting his breath came in ragged gasps. "I'll be back… There's more… Don't worry…"  
Levi looked like he was in a world of pain, his eyes wide in a blend of panic and fear, and truth be told, he had never experienced anything like this, "Please…"  
"You're not dying so don't beg me to stay!" She wept as she got to her feet, about to soar off with her 3DMG.  
"I love you…"  
"Don't tell me that now! Don't die now or I'll swear I'll never forgive you!" Three Titans, she had to take down three by herself, with no backup. She would have to be exceedingly careful.  
"Hanji, I…"  
"Shut up!" She turned around, gliding effortlessly towards the grove the Titans were sprawling out of clumsily. Tears were clouding her vision, but she expertly removed the first Titan's nape, bouncing off of its body to attack the next one as it fell to the ground. It was beginning to reach for her, but she attached her maneuvering gear to its shoulder to use her momentum to spin herself towards its nape, then spiraling herself off, doing a backflip midair over the final Titan's head, slashing at it as she lowered herself, whistling for Ika as gravity pulled her back to the Earth, who was there just in time for her to safely land in the riding position, rushing back towards Levi.

Penny was examining his injuries while Orion looked on nervously. Hanji plopped down beside Penny, taking Levi's hand in hers, stroking the back of it with her thumb in a gentle caress. She noticed the blood leaking for the corner of his mouth, "Is he… Going to be okay?" She remembered her last words to him, 'shut up'. She would forever regret it if those were truly the last words she ever got to say to him.  
Penny gave a slow nod, "He'll be terribly bruised, but somehow… Nothing's broken. I think he'll be just fine. His body is just in shock right now." She picked up the injured man, carrying him over her shoulder carefully. "We have to head out, we're almost there, and then the can rest without us disturbing him."  
Orion shook his head, "Ma. Urd got away. We only have the supplies you and I are carrying. Two tents and two sleeping bags. Also our food and water supplies took a big hit." His paused to let his mother think, "Though they may have extra supplies there."

"They probably do." She was about to start riding when Hanji spoke up.  
"Can I… Carry him?" Her mind wandered to what Levi said, whether or not he was serious. She touched her own cheek as she thought of it, he had said he loved her. Captain Levi Ackerman. (It's technically Ackerman guys, according to the manga. :P Which is the ultimate source of all things Attack on Titan/ Shingeki no Kyugin.)

Penny nodded with a empathetic smile as she put Levi in Hanji's arms once she was mounted. "Careful." She spun off and went to mount Pumpkin.  
Levi Ackerman, in love with Hanji Zoe? Impossible.  
For he was still in love with Petra Rall.

* * *

Levi woke up in a warm sleeping bag to the smell of wild game over a fire, something all too familiar. Boar. Hanji's favourite-

"Hanji!" He jolted upright, immediately regretting the sudden motion, letting out a groan of pain and discomfort, but it hurt too much to try and lay back down. He felt the hands of someone guiding him back though, carefully. He could tell by the size of the hands that it was Orion, "Did… Hanji make it?" Everytime he returned from a scouting expedition another one of his friends was dead. He was still operating on that mentally. But this time, he only had Hanji to lose.  
"Yes. She's cookin dinner-" Orion would have continued had Hanji not burst into the room, rushing to Levi's side.  
"Thank goodness! Tell me, can you feel your toes? Can you move them?" Her eyes were bloodshot, possibly from the smoke from the fire, or crying, he couldn't tell.  
Levi understood her concern, and wiggled her toes, "Not paralyzed." He responded curtly. It was a miracle that his spine hadn't suffered any damage from the fall, to be honest, it was a gift that he was even breathing.

Hanji leaned down and wrapped her arms around him as Orion scuttled out of the room to speak with his mother, shutting the door behind him.  
"Hanji… You're getting tears on me." It was his awkward attempt to get her to stop crying.  
"I…"  
"Yes?"

"I love you too."  
Levi froze, dumbstruck, as he realized just what he had said before he passed out, "I…" His lips stiffened, he couldn't speak.  
"Levi?" Hanji looked up, concern evident in her eyes, but she was met with something even more surprising when Levi pulled her down on top of him, giving her a quick but passionate kiss.  
"Marry me." Were the first words to leave his mouth, as he forced his body to sit up, tilting her chin up to force her to meet his gaze, registering nothing but pure shock.

"What?! Are you triple sure you didn't hit your head harder than expected?!" She shook herself away from him, getting off of the bed.  
"I'm serious Hanji." She was beginning to pace the room.

"No, you're crazy! That's what! Levi Ackerman, a lunatic!" She began to laugh away her shock.  
The last comment actually wounded him, and hurt more than the physical pains of the day, "Why am I crazy? Did you not just say that you love me?"  
"I… I did, but Marriage?! That's a whole different game!" She found the need to stop pacing, but her mind was frantic, rushing to figure out what was happening. She sat back down, hand on her lap.  
He put his hands on top of hers, "I don't want to leave things to chance anymore." He pulled one of her hands to his lips, planting a gentle kiss.  
"So… You really love me? It wasn't just because you thought you were dying?"  
"I really do, Hanji…" He leaned in over her, whispering in her hair as he pulled her hair free, kissing the nape of her neck, "And I don't want to risk another day without you knowing that."  
"I still think you're crazy." She giggled out, she was quite ticklish, but she didn't stop him, instead wrapped her arms around his waist, pulling him closer.

She was his freedom.

* * *

Sunrise. Only no sun, giving the tree house they were holed up in was in the dark portion of the valley, for obvious reasons.  
Hanji headed out to the main room from where she and Levi had slept. Penny was already awake, making breakfast in the form of boar meat and roasted peaches, which somehow complemented each other quite well. "Morning." Hanji yawned out, sitting on a bar stool.  
"Morning!" Penny smiled, putting a plate in front of her.  
"Sorry we missed dinner…" She took a bite, but quickly wound up shoving her food into her mouth, she was practically starving.  
"It's fine, how is he?" She got herself a plate and sat beside her.  
"Fabulous- I mean well! He's just exhausted." She chugged the water Penny left for her before she wound up saying something stupid or embarrassing again.  
Penny was giggling, seeing the evident tint in Hanji's cheeks, "Good to know."  
Orion game rushing out of the other room, spilling a glass of water, "Ma! There's a lady downstairs! She's coming up!"  
Penny's eyes widened and she looked to Hanji, "Hide." She rushed to the window, gasping when she saw the woman climbing up the ladder, "Hide! All of you!" She pushed her son towards Hanji, who stumbled into the scientist's arms "It's Stella…" She slumped against the wall, feeling hopeless, before adrenaline hit her and she grabbed her bow.  
Hanji pulled Orion into the room, Levi was still asleep, as she heard a gunshot. Orion would have screamed, had Hanji not thrown her shaking hand over his mouth.  
Levi shot up at the sound, looking to the frightened Hanji and quivering Orion, "Just what the hell is going on?!"

* * *

Sceppy: Sceppy here! And as requested by some anonymous person, instead of doing my incoherent Author's Notes and Random Ramblings, Revy and I will be doing short commentaries!

_Revy: I really didn't agree to this…It's totally pointless considering you're all just supposed to care more about the story…. Merp.. ._

**Sceppy: Shush, we don't talk 'bout that! So Any who, whad'ya think?**

_Revy: This is an interview? D: _

**Sceppy: *Ultimate sigh of the seven worlds* What was the gunshot? What on Earth is Stella doing at the hideout? Will Revy ever understand the point of a commentary?! Check out next time to find out!**  
_Revy: Here's a hint, Nope ;3 annnd, I'm never writing anything helpful and you can't make me unless you type it in yourself! Which.. you totally could, could we do that instead?_


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